Aquatic Adventures & Fishing Reports Feb 5, 2011

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In this week’s Aquatic Adventures we take you to Biscayne Nature Center in Crandon Park, Key Biscayne. Here students learn about land and sea interaction. Watch the video here…

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Fishing Reports Feb 6th 2011

Nomad Fishing Charters – Miami-DadeWinter Fishing Rolls On!

As January wraps up and our sights shift to the month of February it’s time to catch up on what’s been going on. We did most trips during the first three weeks of the year and have slowed a bit during the last week or so. Earlier in the month we caught plenty of kings and sailfish to keep things interesting. Several anglers got to experience the thrill of catching their first sailfish. The only trip without any sailfish was one that we cut short due to high winds and then heavy rains. We actually caught three nice kings and a couple of bonito before heading in.

On the 22nd I fished the annual interclub sailfish tournament with my good friend and fellow captain Gil Gutierrez. Just two days prior to the tournament we decided to fish aboard his boat so that I could resolve a couple of issues on mine. Conditions were very tough on this day with poor current, westerly breezes, and off colored water. Other boats reported similar conditions up and down the line. We decided that our best bet would be to put out our baits and grind it out without wasting a lot of time running around. Within minutes of deploying we had our first sail of the day which we released quickly. From that point on we just kept plucking away to end the day with 6 releases and earned the honor of top boat. Our team also had the top angler (David Vittier) with 4 releases.

A couple of nights ago we headed out for an evening of Tarpon fishing with disappointing results. The water temperature at the inlet was around 69 degrees and it seemed to affect the tarpon. We couldn’t muster a single bite and for a short time the fish were popping around the boat but would not eat our shrimp. The only good news on this night was that some fish were caught to the north of us around haulover inlet. Even thought the fish were turned off on this particular evening the bite should bounce back as temperatures begin to climb.

Well that is pretty much it for right now. Hopefully February will bring some great fishing and future reports. So far this season has been great for sailfish and the action is far from over. Look for more fish to continue making their migration to the south. If you’re ready to go fishing now is the time to book you trip. Give me a call or send an email for more information and availability.

Three guys spend three days fishing in the Florida Keys to celebrate 30th birthdays!

It was a 30th birthday celebration for Grant Goodwin from Batesville AR and Chris Lewis from Chico CA. They brought their friend, John Drymon, also from Batesville, along for the festivities.

The trio stayed in Conch Key Cottages and spent the first two days fishing with flats and backcountry guide extraordinaire Capt. Diego Cordova of Flat Out Fishing in Marathon. They caught mangrove snapper and some mackerel.

The crew spent their third day of fishing with me on the SeaSquared and they were looking to set their harms to hurting. We hit the reef in search of king mackerel. While waiting for the kings to show up, we tried to catch the 18- to 20-inch yellowtail snapper that had shown up in our slick but were thwarted by more than one Goliath grouper who also wanted a yellowtail dinner.

The kings appeared when we had about a hundred pilchards boiling in the baits. The crew threw hook baits to them and caught five, with the largest weighing in at 35 pounds. All of them are headed for the smoker.

After having a few days to recoup from a long string of fishing charters business has slowed a bit but I still have managed to get out on the water to take advantage of the great weather and good fishing that continues to take place here in Sunny South Florida.

I haven’t had a chance to fish offshore due to windier conditions recently that makes offshore fishing a little uncomfortable in my 22’ Pathfinder Tournament Edition XL that is powered by a new 2010 Yamaha 250 SHO Four Stroke Outboard engine. If you have ever been on my Bay Boat than you know that it is mostly a dry boat and very sea worthy and can accommodate up to four anglers but is better fished with three or less. The offshore fishing continues to be very good even though water conditions have not been great in the sense that there has been a lot of green water instead of the nice blue water edge most offshore anglers normally looks for. Besides the sailfish, dolphins have shown up along with kingfish to 30 pounds, Spanish mackerel, bonitos a few wahoo and some bottom fish. Water temperatures have been in the high 60’s and low 70’s making tarpon fishing along the beaches a hit or miss proposition. One afternoon or morning they cooperate the next they don’t.

Inshore fishing in North Biscayne Bay has provided my recent anglers with plenty of sea trout action accompanied by bluefish, small barracudas, jacks, bluerunners and a few Spanish mackerel.

Fishing in South Bay had been slow in the Finger Channels but that fishing is showing signs of coming back as water temperatures rise and the area that has produced the best action for me lately has been the Patch Reefs just offshore of Key Biscayne. On the Patches we have had very good action from six different kinds of groupers to ten pounds including, Gag, Black, Red, Scamp, Nassau and Graysby groupers. Along with the groupers have been porgies to six pounds, mangrove snappers to five pounds, yellowtail, lane and mutton snappers to seven pounds. We have had cero and Spanish mackerel come into our chum line on almost every trip to the Patches. All of these fish have been caught on live pilchards fished on the bottom. We are using 10 and 12 pound Daiwa spinning reels with Key Largo rods. Our hooks have been Mustad Ultra Point 1/0 to 3/0 hooks. Hook a five pound bottom fish on one of these outfits and you know you have a fish on the other end.

Although I haven’t had a chance to take advantage of the outstanding freshwater largemouth bass fishing that is taking place right now in the Everglades I hope to get out there real soon. That fishery will only get better as water levels continue to drop.

Fishing in Flamingo in Everglades National Park is getting better as water temperatures slowly start to rise. Lots of redfish, although on the small size plus all the sea trout to 20 inches that you might want to catch were available to my clients the other day along with bluefish, sheepshead and snappers. We had a redfish on almost every cast using a live shrimp hooked to a Hookup lure jig head. In less than five hours we went through eight dozen shrimp. For plug fishermen snook have been biting in the backcountry and outside of the Parks boundaries Spanish mackerel, bluefish, pompano and cobia have started to return with some days recently being very good.